According to Jorge we made this horrible WOD even more horrible. In truth though we didn’t make this version. I just found it. Adding push-ups to “Annie” makes it a new challenge and a full body workout. It also makes it a reason to hate push-ups almost as much as double-unders.
Notes:
New Year’s Schedule:
Friday 12/31 we will have classes at 9am, 10am, 11am by sign-up in the box on the whiteboard! (11am time will be used for overflow)
We will take 10 per WOD for sign-ups (please write on the whiteboard only) and if we get too crowded don’t worry we will find a way to fit you in
“Iceland” Annie Thorisdottir (Women’s 2nd Place Overall: 2010 CF Games) completes “DT” in 4:49 RX’d [wmv] [mov]
Great effort today by all and judging by the results the scaling was appropriate to allow better focus on technique, movement and intensity over going too heavy and slogging through a brutal WOD!
Notes:
No 6am class this week on Tuesday/Thursday. 6am classes will be back to normal next week. Stay tuned for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day WOD Schedule.
Early 6 am classes with Moe are cancelled this week for the holidays. They will resume next week. Stay tuned for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day schedule.
Quote of the Day: “The WOD is designed to overcome the work capacity of the fittest athletes.” ~ Coach Greg Glassman (founder of CrossFit)
Which leads me to a few “rules” that apply in CrossFit:
Check your ego at the door.
The WOD is always harder than it looks.
No one who comes in the door can do every workout prescribed.
Scaling is smart. It allows for learning proper form and technique, building strength and muscle memory. It avoids injury, overuse, and the development of bad habits because the weight or range of motion is too much.
Make every rep count. Count every rep. Cheaters never win. Winners never cheat.
CrossFit builds mental toughness as much as physical fitness. Embrace the suck!
CrossFit will find your weakness. You get fitter by building on your strengths and training your weaknesses.
Pre-WOD “butterflies”? We all get them.
If someone vomits or passes out they are considered resting.
You must brag about CrossFit to everyone you know.
“Dueling Thrusters”
Throwback Pic of the pre-SRCF Affiliate days in our garage (early Nov. 2008):
I love this picture. It’s back in the days before Michelle and I affiliated SRCF. We were trainers with CrossFit No Limits down in Steilacoom/Dupont and also doing our garage gym thing too up here in Snoqualmie. What I love is that I remember this WOD very cleary. It was an EMOM (every minute on the minute) add a thruster WOD. The weight was 95# for me and 65# for her. In minute 1 you do 1 thruster and wait. Minute 2 equals 2 thrusters. Keep adding 1 as the minutes tick on until you can’t fit that number in a minute. I was confident I would beat her. I told her clearly I would kick her ass. She said “We’ll see, Nugent.”
We faced each other in a pretty small space (we only had a few stall mats in our garage at the time) about three feet apart. We started the clock and went at it round for round. I thought I would beat her easily except she kept going. And going. I kept thinking “do ten rounds and she will quit”. Then we hit 10, 11, 12, and started the 13th round. I kept thinking “f’ing QUIT already! Just QUIT!”. We finally both ran out of time in the 13th minute where we each did a partial round. I got 6 thrusters in that minute. Michelle got 7. I lost. I was crushed. She laughed. She talked a little trash. I bitched a lot. We got up off the floor and high fived. I may have been mad that I lost, but I came away loving the fact that my wife just kicked my ass in our garage…
Merry Christmas to everyone at SnoRidge CrossFit! Santa brought us a NEW box!
2011 means new things for SnoRidge CrossFit. We are taking a leap and hoping to go big or go home. Quite literally. We are super stoked to announce that we have bought a bigger space right here on the Ridge! If it doesn’t work then we will either go home or move in. (That means please stick with us!)
Hopefully by February we will be opening SRCF version 3.0 (1.0 was the garage, 2.0 is our current location). We have secured an agreement for a building that is more than twice our current size within the same Venture Commerce Center we all run around almost everyday, only this building is located in the long building along Center St. (same building as the All State office) that our 400m run route goes past.
The cool features:
Warehouse space will have more space than our current box (should handle 13-14 barbells comfortably)
30′ fully exposed ceilings and rafters to hang more ropes and rings
2 toilets to allow for twice the capacity of pre-WOD nervous pee-ers!
Front entry area that will have it’s own new Squatch Cave, office space, and a seating area
Storage cubbies and lockers so you can lose more of your shit at the box!
Huge roll-up garage door on the back to the alley (this alone makes it CrossFit)
More wall space for wall ball and handstand push-up torture
No change to the run routes
Still has alley access so we can WOD outside
Ample room for an all new pull-up structure to hold more people
An upstairs area for Elements and Kids programs, as well as warm-ups and skills work
Front door entrance that won’t also be the WOD entry/exit
Overall size is around 2600 square feet
General all around badass-ness!!!
A few other things to announce:
New weekly Friday 6pm class with Jeremy D. starts January 7th
CF Kids will kick off in the New Year with Michelle and Moe (Class details TBA)
Discount pricing for those wishing to pay their dues 6 and 12 months in advance will be announced January 1st.
Like the song the “12 Days of Christmas”, complete each exercise in ascending order then work back down, adding one exercise per round.
Ex. On the 1st day of Christmas, my coaches gave to me, one Sumo Deadlift High Pull; on the 2nd day of Christmas my coaches gave to me, 2 Thrusters and 1 SDHP; on the 3rd day of Christmas, my coaches gave to me, 3 Push Press, 2 Thrusters, and 1 SDHP; continue with 4 Power Cleans, 3, 2, 1 etc. up the ladder and down
Today was a record single class turnout! We had 37 Squatches turn out for the Christmas Eve WOD which made a packed box! For all who had to wait a few waves and put up with the multi-tasking I am sorry for that, but we really focused to get people moving and through the WOD to get back to your holiday plans. I’m also stoked with the energy and community everyone showed. Seeing so many people show up with holiday attire and good cheer means we must be collectively doing something right. Good games and chest bumps go to Moe and Jeremy for running a couple waves outside in the drizzle to push more people through.
This WOD is a long one and for sure a tough workout; however from a coaching perspective what I like about it is the loads are relatively light (or you should scale it to be light) which allow you to keep moving and to learn movements through repetition. The barbell complex at first can confuse some (I admit I even messed up when I finally went even after briefing it so many times), but after several rounds it drives muscle memory and links certain movements together that can make it “click”. At a minimum all of you should never ask “what’s a thruster” again. As I compared this to last year’s results I realized that today we did the WOD slightly different from what we ran last year (I honestly don’t remember why I pulled out power snatches but my guess is due to deadlifts being easier to coach and transition to cleans). Last year in round 5 we did 5 deadlifts each time. This time we had 5 power snatches, which are tougher, slower and more technical. We also did burpees in the 11th round and lunges in the 12th round this year. Last year they were flipped and we did lunges in the 11th and burpees only once in the 12th round. I am pretty sure doubling the burpees takes a little more time than doubling the lunges. Yay burpees!
From your coaches at SnoRidge CrossFit, we want to wish everyone and their families a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and hope you are safe and warm with your loved ones. See you Monday!
“When Arnold says the line “I’ll be back” in the first Terminator movie, it is implied that he is going to ask Chuck Norris for help.”
Tomorrow is the “12 Days of Christmas WOD”!
Wear something red and green, a bad Christmas sweater, or a santa hat, or bring your festivus pole. We will sing a carol, spread the yuletide cheer then start at 10am and send the first wave as soon as 8 are ready. If you can make 10:45am as well feel free to show up, begin warming up, and get ready for the next wave.
Also did you know every time a kettlebell swings an angel earns it’s wings?
What’s the theme this week? Hitting the target. Whether it’s “to elbows” or “to bar”, we have focused on a few movements requiring that you hit the target. Today is Toes-to bar. Count the reps that hit the bar. If you counted them and didn’t hit the target? Shame on you. Go to your room and do 100 burpees. No macadamia nuts for you.
Pain in the knees? Tight behind the knees? Watch, learn and then mobilize. This site is a treasure trove of answers for aches, pains, and issues that have pretty simple fixes. #1 fix? Stop rushing out of the box after the WOD without stretching!
When completing a chest-to-bar pull-up it is necessary to make contact with the chest in which the “target” should be to contact the middle of the chest or below to the bar. To complete this range of motion pull harder with the arms and lats while heaving your chest forward. Leaning the torso back while keeping the feet together will help. As the arms tire consider varying your grip.
Take 2 minutes. Watch this short preview video on Marissa Lelogeais on the CrossFit Journal (which is well worth the measly $25 a year to subscribe). She is a CrossFitter. She also happens to have cerebral palsy and is partially blind. If she can do it, then anyone can do it. Kinda makes any excuse a lame excuse, huh?
When some of your coaches made this WOD over the weekend we threw out a few different combos. This is what “stuck”. Prior to all us doing this WOD we had a very short discussion about knees-to-elbows. All of us violently agreed that there is a reason they are called knees…to…ELBOWS. Otherwise they would be called Knees to triceps, or knees to chest, and so on. Like a “Chest-to-Bar Pull-up” we all reasoned that the contact with said body part was crucial to why the name was chosen and that would constitute the full range of motion. I know we previously have said slightly above and slightly below the elbow was a good rep. That is the old SRCF standard. Today we raised the standard.
Why raise it? Well, why not? One of the aspects of fitness is accuracy. Whether it’s hitting the line (or eventually target) in wall balls, getting our chin over the bar, or ensuring our feet land in the right position of a clean or snatch it’s important to be accurate. Practicing this in as many movements as possible is vital to getting fitter, faster, and just less sloppy. The key is practice. If you miss a rep, then do it again. It’s that easy. Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t cheat yourself, and don’t hang your head. You get tired. We get that. Take a second, tighten up that shot group; then pull those knees all the way up to those elbows next time.
“Knees-to-Elbows” and their variation movements from CrossFit.com [wmv] [mov]
Congrats to Brad and Jim aka “Old Man Jim” who completed Elements tonight!
